“She asked me how many shirts I had, and I said two,” Jake said. “She told me to take off one shirt and wave it around, and I did. And then I got the helicopter to fly over us.”

“We kept on hitting the siren and he was able to tell the direction where he was hearing the siren from,”said CHP Capt. Jim Epperson. “And the helicopters were able to move, based on where he was telling them."

The Pritchards were rescued two hours later.

After being airlifted to a hospital, Ryan Pritchard was found to have suffered multiple fractured vertebrae, a bruised and swollen ankle, lacerations on his head that required numerous stitches, and a broken jaw. He underwent several surgeries and was released Thursday.

“I am blessed. [Jake] performed well under pressure, under the stress of the situation," he said of his son. "He kept a cool head and kept calling."

On Sunday, CHP officials gave Jake a tour of the agency's local dispatch center, served a cake in his honor, and gave him a ride in a patrol vehicle.

He is scheduled to become a Boy Scout in March, and has been nominated for the Boy Scouts of America's National Heroism Award, KTXL reported.

“He was so calm and he was the best caller I could have asked for,” Gsell, the dispatcher, said. “I couldn’t have asked for a happier ending. We don’t get a lot of happy endings.”